Apple patched exploits in iOS 7 that were used to achive a jailbreak. A new video has popped up now showing that an iPhone 4 running iOS 7.1 has been jailbroken.
iOS users have been jailbreaking their devices since the release of the original iPhone in 2007. Jailbreaking an iOS device involves using software and hardware exploits to gain root access and removes many of the limitations Apple has put on iOS. It allows users to install unauthorized applications, tweaks, and themes that are not available in Apple's App Store.
Many of iOS' most popular features got their start in the jailbreak community and were subsequently added by Apple as native iOS features. For instance, iOS 7's Control Center and its multitasking ability both began their lives as tweaks developers created for jailbroken iOS devices. iOS 7 was released in September 2013 and the first jailbreak solution was released by the evad3rs team in late December 2013 using an exploit found in iOS 7.
With the release of iOS 7.1, Apple patched the exploits that were used to jailbreak iOS 7 and even publicly thanked the evad3rs jailbreaking team for finding those security bugs. It was believed that a jailbreak for iOS 7.1 would prove to be very tricky to achieve and might not ever see the light of day. It appears that might not be the case anymore, as a video has surfaced showing a jailbroken iPhone 4 running iOS 7.1.
A jailbreaker by the name of Winocm posted the video to YouTube to prove iOS 7.1 can be jailbroken. While this is great news for iOS 7.1 users who are waiting to jailbreak their devices, this jailbreak comes with one huge catch. It currently only works on the iPhone 4 and its A4 processor. This leaves devices with A7, A6, and A5 processors out of the iOS 7.1 jailbreak party, as they are proving to be very difficult crack.
While the jailbreak only works with the iPhone 4 right now, this news should give owners of devices with A5, A6, and A7 processors some hope that they too might see a jailbreak solution released for those devices.
If you have any of those devices and are already jailbroken and want to stay that way, you should hold off on installing iOS 7.1 and wait for a jailbreak to be released for your device.
